The technology is a little different from either the dew precipitators or windtraps described in Dune, but this project to produce drinking water from the air still has an undeniable Duney flavor, doesn't it?

On the edge of the Sahara, in southwest Morocco, giant nets catch moisture from the air, turning fog into drinking water.

The technique involves a fine mesh on which tiny fog droplets -- typically 1 to 40 millionths of a meter -- gather and merge until they have enough weight to travel down into a reservoir.

Set in a dry, mountainous area, it's the world's largest functioning fog collection project, spanning 600 square meters, according to Dar Si Hmad, the women-led Moroccan NGO that runs it.

The pilot project now provides clean drinking water to 500 people in five villages, in a region that has been severely hit by climate change-induced droughts.